As the Seasons roll by
by AthenaWoods
Summary: "Autumn reminds me of you" Snippets of Harry and Ginny's relationship with reference to the seasons of nature at different moments in their life together. One-shot


**Spring **

Spring was slowly turning out to be Ginny's favourite season of the year. The sky was blue, bees were buzzing, birds were flying, flowers were blooming, she was dating Harry (she was dating Harry!), and he was...

"I still can't believe you're going out with me." Harry repeated gravely, for what could have easily been the millionth time that week. Ginny rolled her eyes and continued pulling out grass. She was really comfortable, settled between his legs, her back leaning against his chest. And what Harry was doing to her hair was actually really amazing. But if he decided to have the 'shit-I'm-going-out-with-Ginny-Weasley' discussion one more time, she would be highly tempted to leave him there under the beech tree all by himself.

"For the last time, Harry, why is that so hard to believe?"

"It's all so surreal! There I was, creating scenarios in my head of me asking you out, for almost a year, and now here I am, properly dating you. I can even snog you whenever I want!"

Ginny laughed out loud at the last statement. He really was endearing. Harry continued, looking pleased with himself for some reason.

"And you are so popular with the guys-

"I am not!" Ginny said indignantly, looking up at him.

"You are" he said matter-of-factly and continued, "Anyway, I thought I stood no chance but now here we are. You and me. Together." He looked genuinely happy.

Ginny smiled and turned so she was facing him. Then without warning, she flung herself into his arms and hugged him so tight, that she felt his breath being knocked out of him. He wrapped his arms around her small frame and kissed the top of her head lightly.

"I think you had nothing to worry about in the first place." Ginny said as she disentangled from his arms and knelt in front of him, so she was a few inches higher than him.

"Why is that?" he mumbled, his eyes slipping shut as she cupped his face in her hands. His stubble scratched against her palms.

Ginny leaned down so that there was a very small distance between their lips and their breaths were intermingling.

"Because no one else stood a chance." She whispered and closed the gap between them.

His mouth moved under hers and his hand sought out her hair. He pulled out her hair-tie so her hair cascaded down her shoulders and was free for him to run his fingers through. Abruptly he pulled away and roamed his eyes over her features, making her feel terribly self-conscious.

His eyes bright and a crooked smile upon his face, he said, "Lucky me."

**Summer **

"Once Summer's gone, you'll be gone." Harry said morosely, as he watched Ginny weave a conjured string through the colourful shells she had collected on the sea-shore. She sat cross-legged on the sand, wearing Fleur's old powder blue sundress, her hair twisted into a complicated-looking braid that fell over her right shoulder. A few loose strands had escaped and were framing her sun-kissed, freckled face. She really was beautiful.

They had been staying at Bill and Fleur's over the weekend since it was Fleur's birthday and Mrs. Weasley wanted the whole family together. It had been a beautiful summer. The dark times of the war had slowly faded and everyone was slowly recuperating, getting brighter just as the sun did. And Harry had been deliriously happy throughout it. There was something refreshing about spending everyday with your girlfriend and not having to worry about imminent death every step of the way. And so when he had finally caught up with the real world, he had realised that Ginny would be leaving for her 7th year in a week. And the whole idea of being away from her for months, all over again, had put Harry into another bout of depression.

She sighed and said, "It's only till December, Harry, then we'll see each other again over Christmas." She looked quite unhappy about the idea as well, and she sounded like she was convincing herself when she said, "Plus there will be Hogsmeade weekends, right? So it won't be that bad."

"I'm trying not to whine. I really am." he said although his tone didn't quite go with his words. She kept her shell necklace aside and took his hand instead.

Keeping her eyes on the waves lapping against the shore, she said, "It's difficult for me too, you know. But then I have school and you have your Auror training. We can't do anything about it."

"I know." Harry said as he watched her close her eyes and take in a deep breath of the salty ocean air.

Feeling his intent gaze on her face, she self-consciously asked, "What?"

"I'm trying to memorize you." he said and she laughed, her voice mingling with the waves crashing. "I'll really miss you. " He added.

"Nah, I'll probably miss you more" she said as she smiled and bumped her shoulder against his. Then he bumped her. And after an impromptu shoulder-bumping competition, Ginny gave him a hard shove that made him land flat on his back with her on top of him.

"If your brothers see me, I'm a dead man." Harry said as she settled herself more comfortably on top of him.

"I'll protect you."

"I see."

They lay on the sand that way for a few minutes, the waves echoing in their ears, before Harry broke the comfortable silence. "You let the blokes know you're taken, alright?"

Ginny smiled into his neck.

**Autumn **

"Autumn reminds me of you" Harry said softly as he turned his head sideways to look at Ginny, who was lying beside him on the grass. It was so rare to have a moment's peace in their lives, that lazing around in the Burrow's orchard seemed surreal.

Crimson and gold leaves fell around them and the crisp, cold air blew tendrils of Ginny's hair in a thousand different directions. Upon hearing Harry's remark, she slowly turned her head and her bright eyes met his own. Her tinkling laugh rang in the air as she touched a strand of her flaming hair, so very much like the myriad of colours of autumn.

"How come everything reminds you of me?" she said her eyes narrowing playfully and a slow blush rising up her neck.

"Well..." he said, leaning up on his elbow so he was now looming over her "You're hard to forget."

Ginny laughed and said, "You're so corny, Harry!" she wrinkled her nose in mock disdain but the pink hue painting her cheeks gave it away.

"You love me for it." Harry said as he planted a kiss on her nose, her cheek, her forehead and just when he was a centimetre away from her lips she whispered, "You know I do."

Harry smiled into the kiss.

**Winter **

Ginny gasped as she felt Harry's warm fingers slip under her woollen burgundy sweater and trace the outline of her spine. His breath was fanning over her cheeks as he trailed a fiery chain of soft kisses over her cold face. His other hand was tangled in her coppery hair.

As she lay on the conjured blanket over the crunchy snow, her breath coming in short bursts of misty fog, Harry lay over her, his dark hair in disarray and the winter moon highlighting his sharp features in a silvery glow.

His eyes looked dark green in the lighting and he smelled of pine needles and his aftershave.

"What are you doing?" Ginny mumbled, her eyes fluttering open to look into his. His hand unravelled itself from her hair and his fingers slowly traced her left cheekbone to come and rest behind her ear.

Harry smiled and said, "Giving you a proper homecoming." Ginny had been in Sweden for a month for the Annual Winter Quidditch League. Though Harry had visited her thrice and attended 2 of her matches, they had not been alone together for very long. So when Ginny had apparated on his front step late in the evening, and he had passionately snogged her brains out, they had decided to have a spur-of-the-moment walk in the park next to his apartment. Upon reaching there, though, Harry had conjured a warm blanket for them under a large leafless tree and the walk had been long forgotten.

"I should go away for a few more months then, if this is the sort of welcome-home I'm going to receive." she whispered, her hands tracing up his back and into his dark locks.

"Don't you dare go away again." he said, his face arranged in an expression of mock annoyance. He slanted his mouth over hers to muffle her indignant retort, and all thoughts except the way his warm mouth moved over hers, immediately fled from her mind.

She kissed him back passionately, her tongue tracing the outline of his lower lip, and he opened his mouth so eagerly, that they both laughed. "I missed you." he whispered against her mouth. "A lot." he added.

"I did too." Ginny said. She had missed him terribly.

Abruptly he sat up, pulling her up with him.

"What?" she asked.

He didn't say anything. He stood up and Ginny followed, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"What happened?" she asked. He remained silent and stood facing her, his cheeks red from the cold and his eyes seemed to have a determined glint. The blanket vanished.

"Ginny, you do know I love you, right?" he asked.

Ginny nodded.

"I'm...I need to ask you something."

"Okay."

"Um, Wait let me say this first."

Ginny waited for him to continue. He took a deep breath and said, "You are everything to me. You make me feel like the luckiest guy alive. And I'm happiest when I'm with you. I know sometimes we fight, though not as much as Ron and Hermione" Ginny laughed.

"And sometimes I can be the biggest prat, and I'm not exactly perfect. But the fact still remains that my love for you keeps growing day by day. And as clichéd as it sounds, I really can't live without you."

"Harry...what?"

"I guess what I'm trying to say is..." he fished around in his pocket and removed something. Then, he got down on one knee and... Wait a minute. He got down on one knee?!

"Will you marry me?"

He held up a diamond ring that caught the moon's light and shone. Ginny stood dumbstruck. All that came out of her mouth was something like, "I...ahhh...um." Her mouth was hanging open.

Harry nervously smiled up at her and said, "Marry me, as in, be my wife. Not, you know-

"Are you sure?" asked Ginny suddenly, her face shifting between emotions of confusion, terror, delight and surprise. "I mean, marriage is not something you jump into right? You'll be stuck with me, for like, your entire life"

"Ginny-

"And I snore sometimes. Not as much as Ron but-

"Ginny, listen-

"And I have a horrifying temper, I look a disaster in the morning, I have a scary appetite-

"Ginn-

" I'm not exactly great wife-material. I mean, I'm disastrous at desserts, and I'm not at all-

"Gin! "

She stopped and looked at him, still kneeling in the snow. He was trying not to smile and the ice was seeping into his jeans. Shit.

"I wouldn't ask if I wasn't sure." he said, his eyes crinkling. "I bought the ring and everything, didn't I?"

"So it isn't a spontaneous thing, right?" Ginny asked worriedly.

"Well the actual asking you to marry me isn't. I bought the ring 3 weeks ago. I've been carrying it around the entire time."

"Really?"

" But, asking you right now, at half hour to midnight in the snow. That was pretty unplanned." he said and took her left hand in his own. "So at the risk of you going into a bout of hyperventilation again" he said, "Will you marry me?"

Ginny flung herself into his arms, knocking him backwards into the snow, her mouth immediately searching his.

After a minute of full-blown snogging, he asked, "So is that a Yes?"

"Of course, Yes! You prat!"

Harry smiled and slipped the diamond ring onto her finger.


End file.
